Fukushima nuclear plant: Steam seen at reactor building

Steam has been seen rising from a reactor building at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant, its operator says. Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) said there was no emergency situation and there were no signs of increased radiation in the area. It says it is investigating what is causing the steam at the damaged No 3 reactor […]

Electricity Prices Soar Past $200 per Megawatt-hour as Heatwave Hits Eastern United States

Or a (really hot) day in the life of the power grid With a heatwave settling across the northeastern and midwestern United States, electricity systems across some of the nation’s most densely populated areas strained to meet peak demands today, sending power prices spiking. Wholesale electricity prices briefly touched as high as $230 per megawatt-hour […]

Lift the Ban on US Oil Exports

The last time serious talk about exporting oil was heard in Washington, the Soviet Union still loomed, the Reagan Revolution had yet to take place and the National Basketball Association had an equitable distribution of talent. It was the 1970s, and with the Arab oil embargo a fresh memory and fears that domestic drilling had […]

Is Economics a Science or a Religion?

Is economics a science or a religion? Its practitioners like to think of it as akin to the former. The blind faith with which many do so suggests it has become too much like the latter, with potentially dire consequences for the real people the discipline is intended to help. The idea of economics as […]

On China, Episode 10 transcript: The Chinese Dream

This episode’s guests include Wu Jianmin, Former Chinese Ambassador to the United Nations; Evan Osnos, Former Beijing Correspondent, The New Yorker; and Jing Ulrich, Chairman, Global Markets, China, JP Morgan. Kristie Lu Stout: Jing Ulrich, Ambassador Wu Jianmin, and Evan Osnos, welcome to On China. Now one question, the very top: what are we going […]

Indonesia requires better population management

Indonesia requires better population management so its huge population can be turned into quality human resource potential, according to National Family Planning and Population Agency head Fasli Jalal. Speaking at the commemoration ceremony of the 20th Family Day in Bantul, Yogyakarta, on Tuesday, Fasli said in order to turn people into smart, healthy and qualified […]

The fall of reason: How to protect your sanity in an insane world

I’m reaching out to you all with words of assurance as I write this story. By now, I think we all are overwhelmingly convinced that we live in an insane world. I call it the “post-reason era.” It’s a world full of irrational people, criminal corporations, deceptive government, the abandonment of law and even the […]

2 years after nuclear disaster, Japan spawns freaky fruits and veggies

It might be wise to steer clear of vegetables from Japan’s Fukushima area for, oh, say a few hundred years. A Korean website assembled this image collection of produce from towns and villages surrounding the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. And they are NOT pretty pictures. From Siamese-twinned corn cobs to what can only be […]

Comparing Driving Costs of EVs and Conventional Cars

A new Department of Energy website helps consumers compare the energy costs of EVs to non-plug-in cars by converting kilowatt-hours into “eGallons”. How valid this proxy is depends heavily on assumptions about the cars being compared to EVs.  If hybrids set the bar, then DOE’s eGallon prices are significantly understated. I’ve been looking through a […]

China eyes fivefold jump in solar capacity

China is aiming for a fivefold increase in solar power generating capacity by 2015 to shore up domestic solar panel makers that are struggling with overcapacity.   China is aiming for a fivefold increase in solar power generating capacity by 2015 to shore up domestic solar panel makers that are struggling with overcapacity. [File photo] […]

So About That $2 Gas…?

U.S. gasoline prices are expected to remain volatile for the month because of geopolitical fallout in the Middle East. Concerns over the global oil supply are fading away from the minds of most consumers and few people care even less about the unrest in Egypt. A weekend survey said gasoline prices were in decline, though […]

Re-Engineering Energy: A Dutch Perspective

Universities and other public/private initiatives in the Netherlands have very interesting activities focused in Smart Grid technology and services innovations.  I had the welcome opportunity to moderate an exchange of information and ideas while a trade delegation was on a recent tour in Silicon Valley to learn more about their latest achievements and objectives. For […]

Detroit: An American Autopsy

Go ahead and laugh at Detroit because you are laughing at yourself. -Charlie LeDuff, Author of Detroit: An American Autopsy As Andrew Burleson was putting the finishing touches on his post here last week about Detroit’s pending bankruptcy, I was on vacation pondering a powerful book by Charlie LeDuff (twitter) that I had just finished […]

Permaculture: The Big Rock Candy Mountain

PLEASE DOWNLOAD PDF TO SEE ILLUSTRATIONS Let me say at the start that I am an old hand with some claim to know what I’m talking about. I have a background in the life sciences, and for many years worked professionally in horticulture. I have been in the ‘alternative’ tribe all my life. I am […]

Global Crop Yields Fail to Keep Pace With Demand

The world is not increasing yields of major crops quickly enough to meet future food demands from an expanding population, presenting a “looming and growing agricultural crisis”, according to a study. Yields of maize, rice, wheat and soybean – responsible for providing 43 per cent of global dietary energy and 40 per cent of protein […]

As Fracking Rises, Peak Oil Theory Slowly Dies

On July 3, the administrators of The Oil Drum, a blog/discussion forum site dedicated to and frequented by those who advocate for “Peak Oil” theory, announced the site would close at the end of July, marking an end to an eight-year existence.  During that period of time, “Peak Oil” theory has basically gone the way […]

Chernobyl at Sea? Russia Building Floating Nuclear Power

So much for the lessons of Fukushima. Never mind oil spills, the Russian Federation is preparing an energy initiative that, if it has problems, will inject nuclear material into the maritime environment. Speaking to reporters at the 6th International Naval Show in St. Petersburg, Baltiskii Zavod shipyard general director Aleksandr Voznesenskii said that the Russian […]

TOD: World Oil and Gas production forecasts up to 2100

With the recent announcement of closure, this will be the last guest post by Jean Lahérrere at TheOilDrum. By fortune it is an update on Jean’s famous long term petroleum and natural gas forecasts; may it serve also as a long term reference to all the readership. Together with the likes of Colin Campbell or […]

Contaminated Water has been Leaking into Ocean for Two Years at Fukushima

Shunichi Tanaka, the head of the Nuclear Regulation Authority in Japan, and the country’s chief nuclear regulator announced on Wednesday, that the nuclear power plant at Fukushima, has been leaking contaminated water into the ocean for the two years since the accident that saw three of the plants six reactors suffer a meltdown. The problem […]

3 Years Of Gulf Oil Spill Photos Show Ongoing Impact

July 15, 2013 marks the third anniversary of BP stopping an uncontrolled flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Nearly three months after the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded and killed 11 men, BP capped the undersea well that had leaked millions of barrels of crude and fouled thousands of miles of shoreline. Shrimp […]

Expect $50 oil , but not $2 gas , Gulf Oil CEO says

Oil prices should be about half of today’s $105 a barrel by the end of the year, Gulf Oil CEO Joe Petrowski predicted on CNBC on Monday. He stressed on “Squawk Box” that this trend is mostly on the supply side because record amounts of oil and natural gas are being produced in the United […]

More People; Fewer Resources

The UN now estimates that there will be 9.6 billion people by 2050, which is a revision upwards from their 2010 estimate of 9.3 billion. For some environmentalists, this is a scary thought. A simplistic take on natural resource use suggests that more people mean more consumption and more pollution. Estimating global population, let alone […]

10 Points To Consider In The Natural-Gas-Vehicle Debate

The perception of natural gas as a mainstream fuel for vehicles runs the gamut, dependent upon where you live: from the improbable… to the viable… to the everyday reality. So from recent burrito research expeditions, here are ten points to stir up the melding pot of the great natural gas vehicle debate. 1) Here is […]

Low-Cost Hydrogen Breakthrough Uses Solar Energy And Rust

Hydrogen fuel cells are emerging as key players in the clean energy landscape of the future, except for one problem: it takes a lot of energy to make hydrogen, and here in the US, the preferred source of that energy appears to be natural gas. That’s hardly a sustainable solution. However, not to worry. Researchers […]

North Dakota oil output tops 800,000 bpd

Oil production in North Dakota topped 800,000 barrels per day (bpd) for the first time ever in May, preliminary data from the state regulator showed on Monday, as the number of rigs pumping crude in the state hit an all-time peak. The state’s Mineral Resources Department said output in May was up 2 per cent […]

Despite Dangers, U.S. Increases Dependence on Coal for Electricity

Conservatives opposed to President Barack Obama’s plan to have the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulate carbon emissions for power plants because the market for fossil fuels is already encouraging a switch from coal to natural gas will have to find a new argument, according to a recent report from the Department of Energy.   The […]

Afghanistan signs 30-year gas pipeline deal

The Afghan government said it signed a 30-year gas sales and purchase agreement for a multilateral pipeline planned from Turkmenistan. Parties to the planned Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India natural gas pipeline met last week in Ashgabat for a regular meeting of the pipeline’s steering committee. The Afghan Foreign Affairs Ministry announced Saturday it signed a 30-year deal with […]

Peak Moment 238: Splendid Bicycles for Cargo and Kids

Picture a sofa perched on a bicycle for its move across town! That’s how Portlanders Joel and Barb Grover transport items too big or awkward for a car. More and more folks in bicycle-friendly terrain are using cargo bikes for their in-town transportation needs — carrying kids, groceries, purchases and goods for market. Creative cycle […]

The punctuated collapse of the Roman Empire

I defined as the “Seneca Cliff” the tendency of some systems to collapse after having peaked. Here I start from some considerations about whether the collapse could be smooth or an uneven process that we could define as “punctuated.” I am taking the Roman Empire as an example and showing that it did decline much […]

is peak oil & fossil fuel a myth ?

youtube, is peak oil & fossil fuel a myth

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